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AHI is Apnea, Hypopnea, Index, while AI is just Apnea Index (Hypopneas not counted). Normal practice is to count apnea and hypopnea and try to get AHI under 5.
Another important consideration is the degree to which you desaturate. Desaturation levels are a measure of the degree to which your blood O2 levels fall below normal. you want to be 90 or better, but truly normal numbers are above 95.
You won't find that data in your machine reports, of course, but it should show up in your sleep study reports. Apneas and hypopneas will interrupt your sleep. But low desats can do organ damage. Beta cells in the panaceas are sensitive to low oxygen levels, as is the brain. I used to regularly defat below 60, although my AHI was only 19. trouble was during REM sleep my AHI was 83. and the apneas could last a while.
So, not to make things too complicated, you want to know your AHI during both REM and non-REM sleep, because when the two are averaged, you lose an important part of the picture.
With SleepyHead you can monitor Minute Ventilation minute to minute during the night. If Minute Ventilation is maintained there is no reason for O2 to desaturate. And from a CPAP perspective that is about all it can do -- maintain Minute Ventilation. If O2 desaturates while Minute Ventilation is being maintained, then that suggests other issues like heart and blood circulation issues.
obbyone
+0 points
·
about 5 years
ago
Original Poster
I am asking by because my numbers have been increasing and I am worrying a little, before numbers were under 3 and now sometimes even with the machine I wake up one or two times at night because I stopped breathing. Last night my numbers were:
I am not that familiar with that specific machine. It appears to be a BiLevel and is running at 20 IPAP and 14 EPAP? Is that correct? Is the pressure fixed? It is possible you may need a pressure increase. Normally those machines can go up to 25 cm. If you post a SleepyHead daily detail I will look at it, but your best bet may be to call your doctor to have them look at it. Take your data card and have them look at the full detail.
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